Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Ship your grain across the sea;
    after many days you may receive a return.
Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight;
    you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
If clouds are full of water,
    they pour rain on the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
    whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
As you do not know the path of the wind,
    or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
    the Maker of all things.
Sow your seed in the morning,
    and at evening let your hands not be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
    whether this or that,
    or whether both will do equally well.

• Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

“I hurried to finish my packing, remembering all the kindnesses that had been poured on me by this wonderful family and their many friends. I have faced death many times, but there is always an empty place in my heart when someone I know and love leaves to be with the Lord. Nor did it ever occur to me that almost two years later I would once again fly to Washington to sit in that same Presbyterian Church not to attend a memorial for Abraham Vereide but to attend the meeting in honor of Alicia, who, although still young and beautiful, would die in Hong Kong while making a mission tour with her husband, Howard Davison.
“I was warmly received by my friends in Washington. Although sad, they were rejoicing in the Lord. That night after I had gone to my room, I prayed, ‘Lord,’ I asked, ‘why are people so kind to me? I am just a simple old Dutch woman. Why am I treated so graciously and shown so much hospitality?’
“Then the Lord reminded me of my mother’s blessing box.
“Our house in Haarlem was not really big but it had wide open doors.
“I do not suppose that the many guests who were always coming to the Beje ever realized what a struggle it was to make both ends meet. Yet many lonesome people found a place with us and joined in our music, humor, and interesting conversation.
“There was always a place at the oval dinner table, although perhaps the soup was a bit watery when too many unexpected guests showed up. Our entire home was centered in the ministry of the Gospel. All people who came to us were either workers in the Kingdom of God or people who needed help.
“Mother loved all her guests. She often showed her love by dropping a penny in the ‘blessing box’ when they arrived. …
“Whenever visitors came Mother would spread her arms wide and welcome them and then to show how she really appreciated their presence would say, ‘A penny in the blessing box for your coming.’ If it were a special visitor she might even put in a dime.
“Then, at the dinner table, Father would always bless our visitors, thanking God that our house was privileged by their presence. It was always a special occasion for us all. …
“After a few days in Washington I continued my traveling as a tramp for the Lord. However, fresh on my mind was the hospitality of my dear friends. And I remembered Mother’s blessing box, and Father’s prayers. Often I am dependent on the hospitality of Christians. God’s people have been so generous to open their homes to me and many times when I lay my head on a strange pillow, which has been blessed by the love of my friends, I realize that I am enjoying the reward for the open doors and open hearts of the Beje.
“Heaven will be blessed, but here on earth I already am enjoying a ‘house with many mansions.’ ”

• Corrie ten Boom, Tramp for the Lord

Corrie ten Boom finally got a room of her own.  She was in Colorado and a family welcomed her into their home.  This was something new.  She had not been feeling well and she thought she might stay a few days, but just as she unpacked, there was a phone call for her from Alicia, the daughter of Abraham Vereide, who had welcomed her to Washington, DC after she had such a rocky start in New York City way back when all this travelling began.  God had blessed her faith, and the “Tramp for the Lord” thing may not have gotten started with Mr. Vereide, but it leapt from the ground and had wings of its own at that point.  She immediately repacked her bags, thanked her host, and made the fastest connections she could to Washington, DC.

I felt the quote was getting a bit long, so I cut a bit out.  After Mr. ten Boom had blessed the people who were visiting, a sister-in-law of a visiting minister went upstairs.  She was determined to turn her sheet into a rope and throw herself out the window that night.  She got as far as making the sheet into a rope and tying it around her neck… “But I could not forget the prayer at the dinner table, as Mr. ten Boom thanked God that I could come and share in this hospitality. God spared my life through that prayer.”

For a personal note, I have been using this book as my Sunday mini-series long enough for it to not be a mini-series.  My wife was a Dutch woman.  She thought little of her skills.  She often wondered why people made a fuss.  Like Corrie ten Boom, she would say similar words like Tante Corrie, “I am just a simple old Dutch woman.”

My in-laws were struggling, having nine children in the house.  My wife would be only the second to leave the nest.  The first being a younger daughter who graduated high school a year early, married immediately afterward, and joined her husband during his stay in the U.S. Air Force.  When I came to visit, they would add water to the soup bowl.  They would have neighbors over.  My mother-in-law would pull out her guitar and they would sing songs, singing in at least a half dozen different languages.  On one occasion, a Czech accordion player came from the middle of Texas to visit, and to sing with them.  On a few occasions, a Dutchman who coached college soccer teams visited.  Based on modern standards, their house was far too small for the eleven family members, too small for half that many, but they always made room for more.  The paragraph in the quote above about their hospitality at the Beje brought tears to my eyes that have not stopped.

Linguistic Note: The Beje that Corrie ten Boom writes about in the book and in The Hiding Place is her abbreviation of the street where she lived until arrested by the police for hiding Jews and sent to a concentration camp.  The street name was Barteljorisstraat.  And Tante Corrie pronounced Beje, “Bay-yay.”  All were welcome at the Beje.

But my in-laws did not have a blessing box that would be emptied into the church mission funds.  My mother-in-law was a great prayer warrior, but that was private, maybe a Catholic thing. Blessings at their home were simple.

But, where I grew up, other than my father saying, “Bless the hands that prepared the food” and “We welcome guests (by name) at our table,” I do not remember praying a blessing on the guests, always on the food we would eat.

I have a son who took means to commit suicide and a friend, not knowing what my son’s plans were, literally dragged him to the car and they went to a Christian retreat at a nearby church camp, one where I stayed for a similar retreat as a member of the staff a generation before, but my son heard the keynote speaker say, “I have a sense that someone here is thinking of committing suicide tonight …”  And from that moment on, my son said that it seemed that he was having a personal sermon, just for him.  He accepted Jesus that night.

This one chapter of the book has my emotions going in one direction and my memories going in the opposite direction.  I hope it makes sense.

My wife thought she was nothing special, but not everyone has their name recorded in the Texas Folklife Hall of Fame.  And that family group would never have started other than one Nederland, Texas Chamber of Commerce meeting when they asked this new family who moved into a neighboring town to perform, and my wife was the only one to show up.  When they asked my wife and her mother to go to San Antonio, Texas, the sisters wanted to join for that.  So, all of that started with my wife answering a request to do something she never tired of her entire life.  She sang songs and she told of her life in Indonesia, in the Netherlands, and the ocean liners between them, especially with the Arab Israeli War when the tanks lined up on either side of the Suez Canal.  She had so many stories, and she loved telling them.

The photo above is of my wife when she got an odd surprise. She dressed up and took her guitar to sing to the second-grade class when she was a teacher’s aide. The principal found out about it, and a little song session and telling stories for one second-grade class became an assembly for the entire elementary school that was covered by the local media. The principal was the wife of our Sunday school teacher at the time. All we obtained was this newspaper photo, so it’s a bit grainy. Yes, she loved singing and telling stories, no matter how many were in attendance.

But she was special because she never met a stranger.  She loved everyone she met.  Some might have caused her to have second thoughts about some after a while, but she greeted everyone like Corrie ten Boom and her parents did at the Beje.  My wife talked of Corrie ten Boom as being some woman that she could never approach her life, but they were so much alike.  And both so loving.  And both so humble.

For one thing, I will take a new view on blessings before a meal.  I will take a new view about greeting others.  I fall short in such things.

Lord, strengthen me.  I miss my wife so much right now.  If I only had a small portion of her hospitality and her vitality before she got too ill.  Help each of us to have our doors ‘widened’ open more.  Help us to trust in you that each penny in the blessing box would be paid in music and laughter.  And bless each person that I come into contact with.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.